When it comes to speakers, Google has the $50 Mini, the $129 Home, and the $399 Max. Google Assistant is also available on every recent Android phone, without you having to hunt down an app.

Inexpensive; Nice design; Better sound quality than the Echo Dot; Better at answering music-related queries than Alexa

Lacks audio out; Google Home still offers less support for third-party services than Alexa

The Google Home Mini's existence is hardly a mystery: the squat little smart speaker is Google's retort to the Amazon Echo Dot. Packaging the virtues of the Google Assistant into a smaller, cheaper form factor than the existing Google Home , it's a $49 way to add the search company's smarts – and...

Cheap way to try Google's voice features; Discreet; cute design; Google keeps adding features

Audio quality is poor; No Bluetooth A2DP or 3.5mm output; Echo Dot can still be found cheaper

When it debuted last fall, the Echo Dot made big waves for its low price; it has never been easier to get Alexa in your home. The $49 Google Home Mini is poised to do just that for Google's Assistant. Not only is it inexpensive, but it also outperforms the Echo Dot in audio quality and design.

Attractive design; Inexpensive; Great audio quality for size; Can control Android TVs and Chromecast

Hard to see status lights from across room; Doesn't work with as many smart-home devices as Alexa; Can't pair with Bluetooth speakers and no line-out

Well over a year after the launch of the Amazon Echo Dot, Google finally has a competitor out. Announced alongside the all-new second generation Pixel smartphones, the device might have gotten a bit overshadowed but fret not, we've been testing it out the last few days and have a review ready for...

It's almost unfair that most of the world met our voice-controlled future in the form of an Amazon Echo. Sure, the gadget works, but damn is it ugly. The Google Home was better but still sort of silly-looking. That's why the sleek, minimalist Google Home Mini feels like a revelation.

Beautiful hardware design; great software design

No headphone jack

Google's cute $49 Home Mini, is a better standalone voice-activated speaker than the Amazon Echo Dot. That would be great, except for the fact that a lot of Echo Dot owners don't use their Dots alone—they connect them to bigger, better-sounding speakers using the audio-out port, which the Home Mini lacks. Google's demand that its speakers play only with other Google-compatible equipment continues to be the platform's weakest aspect, and the primary reason the Echo Dot remains our Editors' Choice. Design and Set Up Google's speakers are generally more attractive than Amazon's, although the new $99 fabric-covered Echo is a step in the right direction. Still, the Home Mini is super cute and measures 3.86 inches in diameter, 1.65 inches high, covered in chalk, charcoal, or coral fabric. There isn't much here in the way of ports. On the bottom, there's a microphone off switch. You can tap the sides of the speaker to change volume. You were initially able to play/pause music or activa...

The Google Home Mini smart speaker takes on Amazon's Echo Dot with a cute, fabric-covered design and Google Assistant smarts, but its lack of an audio out is a major bummer.

Inexpensive; Nice design; Better sound quality than the Echo Dot; Better at answering music-related queries than Alexa

Lacks audio out; Google Home still offers less support for third-party services than Alexa

The Google Home Mini is a no-brainer for anyone who's already enjoying a Google Home, but it's not the right smart home controller for everyone.

Pretty design; Google Assistant is more sophisticated than Amazon's Alexa; Low price makes it easy to deploy in multiples

Lousy for music reproduction; Compared to Amazon's Echos; Google Home devices aren't as broadly compatible with third-party products; Can be paired...

It's almost unfair that most of the world met our voice-controlled future in the form of an Amazon Echo. Sure, the gadget works, but damn is it ugly. The Google Home was better but still sort of silly-looking. That's why the sleek, minimalist Google Home Mini feels like a revelation.

How much can you slice away from a Google Home and have it still be good? That was the question asked of Google's hardware team when it created the Google Home Mini, a device that slashes the $129 Google Home down to a mere $50.

It's cheap! For $50, newbies can easily experiment with Google's voice command system, The mostly cloth design merges easily into a home decor, It's small; You can put it anywhere, and it won't be in the way, Tethering to a Chromecast Audio is nice for those with bigger speakers, but a wired option...

Google Home still feels like an early adopter product; Music was the Google Home's best feature; and this doesn't really work with music; The sound the speaker pumps out

has been one of the best combinations of hardware and technology that I have happily adopted into my home and into my family's life. The device is used mostly to play back podcasts and music from Spotify and Google Play subscriptions but it has since expanded in many ways.